Ken
| image = | race = Enlightened | birthday = July 22 | age = | gender = Male | height = 187 cm (6'2") | weight = 78 kg (172 lbs) | blood type = AB | affiliation = Himself | previous affiliation = Seraphim Royal Knights, Order of Darkness, Ken's Army | occupation = Ruler of Firewall | previous occupation = Leader of his Army | team = | previous team = | partner = | previous partner = Shana Winters | base of operations = Excelia, Abyssea, Firewall | relatives = | mystic code = Serapha Anastasia (formerly) Caladbolg (formerly) | element = Space-Time Illusion | affinity = Mar de Grises | overdrive = Axiom Scintillant Stream Millenial Decay }} Ken is the leader of the Order of Darkness and an Enlightened who has lived for more than 10,000 years. Appearance Ken is a tall man with a clean face and stern, empty blue eyes. He has waist-length blonde hair that he keeps in a ponytail, leaving his hair in bangs that fall forward to frame his face. Vesper claims his face is so ordinary and boring that it is easy to forget. He wears gold cross-shaped earrings and a thin necklace with a cross pendant, which is actually a Soul Gem, and a blue and gold coat that reaches his knees. Like Raven, Ken keeps the collar open, revealing a part of his chest. To finish his attire, Ken dons black leather pants and boots, as well as a few straps and belts on his waist and legs and arms. Personality History Plot Powers & Abilities Master Greatsword Specialist: Master Dual Wield Specialist: Magic Master: Step Master: Serapha Serapha: Messam's Mystic Code, which Ken harmonized to himself during their fight. Because of Messam's Scintillant Stream, the weapon now naturally possesses Haile's Millenial Decay. Harmony Special Ability: Serapha is a magical blade can phase through an object, allowing the blade to bypass armor or shields. Because of this property, Serapha is purely magical, and can only be countered by Caladbolg. Affinity Mar de Grises (lit. "Sea of Greys/Sorrow"): Ken's body glows brightly as he aphenes. The light produced is able to temporarily blind others, allowing him to deliver a preemptive strike. While in Mar de Grises, Ken's appearance is augmented by an ethereal armor of sorts. :Affinity Special Ability: Mar de Grises allows control over space-time, effectively giving Ken mastery over the flow of time and the ability to traverse the timelines. Mar de Grises also has a side effect due to the nature of space-time, which amplifies Raven's gravitational fields to an unknown degree should the two be close together. Furthermore, Ken's Affinity allows him to perform two very distinct feats: creating temporal shifts for teleportation and the casting of temporal illusions. :*'Temporal Shifts': By distorting time, Ken is able to select a destination, date, and time, and "teleport" to the selected area at will. The technique does not actually teleport Ken; instead, the ability simply materializes Ken in a specific place of his choosing as if the world was a coordinate plane, and the destination, date, and time all being axes on the plane. Ken has stated that there specific parameters that must be adhered to, however they remain unknown. Ken favors this ability over Steps. :*'Temporal Illusions': By altering time, Ken is able to create alternate timelines and temporarily integrate them into the real timeline, creating the effect of a false reality. *'Flight Capability': Ken's wings allow him the ability to take flight. While in flight, the wings do not 'flap', instead, they simply act as a sort of throttle to propel him through the air. *'Sword Materialization': Ken is able to materialize Serapha back in his hands if it is out of his reach. Overdrive: The special abilities of Mar de Grises, which focus on the alteration and manipulation of time. In the third stage of his Affinity, Ken gains the ability to create and manipulate illusions. *'Axiom': Axiom allows Ken to manipulate time, in either small increments or very large timelines spanning up to at least 10,000 years. Axiom is noted to have three major drawbacks, and because of this, Kharsis described Axiom as "the ultimate reward and punishment." Mar de Grises is stated by Ken to be one of two Affinities that grant the wielder god-like powers; the other being Mystic Cross. :*1) After using the ability, Ken is unable to use it for a period of time, depending on the scale of the alteration of time. Essentially, the more profound and sensational the effects are, the longer Ken must wait to use Axiom again. There is a way to avoid this downside, however, through the use of a Soul Gem. :*2) Upon successfully using the ability, any sensations of everything affected are recorded and immediately remembered by Ken's consciousness. In other words, if Ken were to alter a hundred years of past history, Ken would inherit a hundred years of emotions and thoughts as well. Ken noted that he intensity of the feelings felt are enough to drive a person insane, and that the long-lasting effects of the technique makes him use the ability sparsely, and even then, in very small time frames. :*3) Once the changes have been "set," and after Ken has used the technique, Ken himself is "trapped" within the frame of time that he has altered. Ken must re-live every moment from the time Ken's use of the ability ended until the current time of Ken using the specific Axiom that was used. Because Ken cannot freely act or speak as he is returning to the current time, this downside places a tremendous psychological strain on Ken, one that Shana claims is enough to break a person's soul. :To begin the technique, Ken selects any arbitrary moment, and records the exact details of his body and surroundings, as well as that of their opponent's during that instant. Ken must then intentionally replicate the same conditions and in the same way, and memorize that instant as well. Axiom then can overlap, connect or otherwise alter these two identical scenarios, as well as the flow of time between them. Ken is able to manipulate the events he has recorded in any way, as long as the ability is active, and he is able to record as many events as he pleases given he remembers the exact conditions of each, as well as perform multiple instances of Axiom within each one casted. The instant the ability is used, the flow of time for Ken is under his control, and the people affected do not even perceive the alteration. The ability itself is very primitive in design; Axiom creates alternate timelines (one for each instant of each second) and simply allows him to select and corporate himself into any one. *'Scintillant Stream': Ken's version of Scintillant Stream allows him to alter the opponent's mind and manipulate them by giving them false experiences. The ability is very subtle, and the opponent cannot tell when the attack has affected them. Unlike Messam's version, Ken's weapon does not glow brightly and produce the traditional "stream" effect the attack is known for; instead, the weapon's blade reflects light in such a way that a crescent can be briefly seen prior to the attack. *'Millenial Decay': Due to the effects of Scintillant Stream, Serpaha now possesses the abilities of Haile's Affinity, although it is now considered to be an extension of Ken's Overdrive; however, Ken never utilises the effects of Millenial Decay. Former Powers & Abilities Anastasia Anastasia: Ken's secondary Mystic Code. Anastasia's appearance is similar to Caladbolg's, although it is slightly bulkier. Ironically, Anastasia is noticeably weaker than Caladbolg, as noted by Amnell. :Harmony Special Ability: Anastasia is able to produce powerful streams of energy as it swings, in order to artificially extend the reach of the blade and to provide an increase in cutting power. Caladbolg Caladbolg (lit. "hard cleft"): Ken's main Mystic Code. Caladbolg is a broadsword with extreme cutting power, and is said to be consecrated by the goddess to oppose Serapha. Simple in design, two protrusions jutting out diagonally on either side form the sword's cross-guard. :Harmony Special Ability: As the sister sword of Serapha, Caladbolg is said to possesses the ability to cut through anything. However, the true meaning of this is that it can specifically sever the magical bonds of anything in an object, allowing the blade to destroy any spiritual defenses. Caladbolg is the only sword able to counter Serapha. If wielded together, the two blades would be able to cut anything. Trivia *''Mar de Grises'' is Spanish for "Sea of Greys," however, the color grey in Spanish is the color of sorrow as blue is in English. Therefore, "Sea of Sorrow" is a more appropriate translation. **This meaning is much more accurate given Ken's character and the details of his Overdrive, Axiom. *Ken is the only character to possess two Mystic Codes; both Raven and Kharsis' Mystic Codes are considered a single one, whereas Caladbolg and Anastasia are separate from each other. *Ken's theme song, as chosen by the author, is "Mired" by Forest Stream. Quotes *(To Luca Blite) "How troublesome. Don’t make me go through the effort to swing my sword twice on the likes of you." *(To Amnell Azplynd, when asked if he thinks can cut him) "I don’t think about whether I can. Because I already have." *(To Amnell Azplynd) "Your eyes, they hold many questions. You wish to ask who we are. And yet you have already realised that we will give you no answer to that question. It should not be so difficult for you to deduce the answer for yourself. Farewell, Amnell the Miracle Worker." *(To Amnell Azplynd) "The last time we met, you asked me a question in the spectrum of your mind. It is time for us to tell you the answer you have so long awaited. We are the emissaries of God. And we are not a force that can be defeated by you Unenlightened. Take heed, fools, as heretofore your act is foolish." *(To Messam St. Evremond) "It's meaningless to argue what's special. If a single swing makes one disappear, then three more swings will make that specialness disappear!" Influence *''Caladbolg'' is thought to be a source or analogue of 's sword , which in early is called Caledfwlch. *''Anastasia'' is a girl's name of Greek origin. It means "resurrection" or "she who shall rise up again." Anastasia is best known as the name of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, daughter of Czar Nicholas II. According to legend, she survived the murder of the Russian imperial family by the Bolsheviks and continued to live on afterwards. Battles & Events